Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for Lucy, whom I made up

Birthdays are supposed to be fun, right? Especially fifteenth birthdays, 'cause it's when you get your permit and everything. I figured that it wouldn't be so bad, and

that I would have a pretty fun day.

Boy, was I wrong.

OK, I'll admit, I wasn't expecting it to be that good. How could it be, when you have a dad like me? Well, he's technically not my dad, he's my uncle, and he's the

meanest person you'll ever meet. It's not like he beats me or anything, but he just doesn't care about me. Uncle Harry is always in a bad mood, and he yells at me a

lot. My real dad died in a car crash when I was nine, and I never knew my mother.

My eyes flew open to the sound of ESPN blasting through my bedroom walls. I leaned over and looked at my alarm clock; 4:30. I groaned, and kicked off my covers,

covering my ears. See what I mean? He has no consideration for me. I trudged over to my dresser, slipping on my school uniform. When I glanced up, I

saw my reflection in the mirror. I had long straight hair, the color of wheat or honey, and hazel-green eyes. My skin was tan, and I had a splash of freckles on my nose

from being in the sun. I found myself average, but guys must've thought differently, because a great deal of them told me I was pretty all the time. When I was

finished dressing, I quietly slid through the door to the living room, yawning and rubbing my eyes. My uncle was riding on his stationary bike again, facing away from me.

See, there's another thing I forgot to mention about my uncle; he's a TOTAL exercise freak. He's always running around the block, jumping rope in the kitchen, swimming laps in the pool, or

riding on his stationary bike like he is right now. When he's not doing some form of exercise, he's nagging at me. Uncle Harry didn't want to take me in in the first place; I was forced upon

him. The only reason he didn't send my butt straight to the orphanage was because that would've ruined his reputation, and he didn't want to be known as "the cold-hearted man that turned

away from his poor parent-less niece".

"LUCY!", he yelled from the couch, "Get over here, right now!"

I had no idea how he even saw me, but I quickly obeyed. He eyed me, obviously annoyed even though he had no possible reason to be.

"Just because it's your birthday today, doesn't mean you get out of working. Now go make me some breakfast. I'm in the mood for eggs and some toast."

I scurried away towards the kitchen, before he could add anything bizarre.

My uncle and I live in this huge apartment in New Hampshire. We moved here when Uncle Harry had decided I needed to go to finishing school, at Clarion Ladies

Academy. It was really just a way for him to see less of my face.

When I got to the kitchen, I flicked the stove knob on and put the bread in the toaster. It would be best if I didn't keep him waiting. Uncle Harry was having his "daily dose" of

ESPN sports. If he didn't get it once a day... well let's just say it would really suck for me. As I waited for the toast to pop up and announce its adjournment, I cracked some eggs and plopped

them in a pan on the stove. I listened to them crackle and sizzle for a moment, thinking of the upcoming summer vacation. I didn't have any plans yet; I had been hoping to spend time with

my best friend, but it turned out she was going away to camp for the summe- Pop! The toast sprang up, causing me to jump a little in surprise. I flipped the eggs and buttered the toast in a

hurry. I waited impatiently for the other sides of the eggs to cook. When I decided the eggs were decent, I salted them and threw them on a plate, rushing to my uncle. Of course he didn't

thank me, but instead muttered,

"Took you long enough... What is this junk? You should know by now that I only eat WHEAT bread, and this is white."

His critisism didn't bother me much; I knew that if I had given him the wheat toast in the first place, he would've complained about how I was "signaling that he was getting fat and not eating

heathy enough". Besides, he sounded like a spoiled movie actress/drama queen who had never heard the word "no".

I just quietly slipped away in the direction of my room to finish getting ready for school. My room was pretty small for someone who had such a rich parent (well, in my case 'legal guardian'); it

was originally built to be an office. It had floor-to-ceiling windows on one side (which made it really light and open), a big light green fuzzy carpet that reminded me of grass (which I had to buy

with my own money), and sky blue walls with beautifully painted flowers that looked as if they were really growing up from the floor. About the walls; my friend and I gave my room a

makeover when my uncle was away on a "business trip". She had offered to paint flowers on my wall, and I accepted (a little reluctantly, being unsure of her talent and all). The flowers turned

out to be amazing; and the best part about the whole thing was that my uncle never even noticed, because he never came in my room (he still never does).

I walked over to my bed, sat down, and carefully french braided my long golden hair, watching myself in the mirror to make sure I made no mistakes. When I finished it was still only 5:30, but

I was too awake to go back to sleep (if that makes any sense). Instead, I went over to one of my shelves against a window and peered down at what sat on top. It was a flower, a pink orchid

to be more specific. A beautiful, delicate little orchid planted in a yellow pot. My dad had given it to me when I was very young, and I had some how managed to keep it alive over the years. I

had no idea plants could even last that long. I gently touched it with my index finger, and something very strange happened; it started to grow. At first it seemed to become almost happier, or

brighter, you would say. Then, I felt a sharp pang in my left arm, the arm I was using to touch the flower. It felt like nothing I had ever experienced; the weirdest thing was, it was like it was

meant to be, or natural. As soon as I felt the tug in my arm, the flower seemed to extend. I pulled back in surprise, for I could've sworn the flower just grew half an inch. I stared at my hand,

stunned. I must've been hallucinating or going crazy; it didn't really matter which one, because there was no other reasonable explanation. I sucked in deep, shaky breaths and slowly walked

over to my bed. Something was definitely wrong with me. I tried convincing myself that it was no big deal. Maybe it happened to all 15 year olds on their birthday, and maybe the weirdness

would be just a silly illusional memory by tomorrow.

Little did I know that many more incomprehensible situations were about to occur. Little did I know that what happened today was not just a hallucination.

Little did I know that it was just the beginning.

Tell me whatcha think! Sorry if it's not very interesting, I was just trying to write an exposition so I could tell you all the basic info. on the main character the set up